Source Code

Release Date:
5 May 2011

This movie is from our archive and is not currently screening.

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes with a jolt to find himself on a commuter train heading into Chicago. Although the other passengers all seem to know him, he has absolutely no idea where, or even who, he is. The last thing Colter remembers is flying a helicopter mission in Iraq, but here he is in someone else's life going through someone else's morning commute. Before he can do anything, an express train zooms by on the opposite track and a bomb explodes, seemingly killing Colter and all the other passengers.

Colter awakes in an isolation chamber, strapped to a seat, and wearing his military flight suit. He still has no idea what's happening, except that he's being spoken to by mission controller Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who calmly asks him, "Who planted the bomb?" He learns he's a part of a secret operation called "Beleaguered Castle," but before he can progress any further, Goodwin starts up the machinery and suddenly Colter is back on the train, at exactly the same time he first appeared there, once again speeding through Chicago with the same group of commuters and once again after eight minutes the bomb explodes. Each time he doesn't solve the mystery, he is taken back to re-live the same eight minutes. Living the explosion over and over, Colter must uncover the identity of the bomber, while also figuring out what the alternative universe of "Beleaguered Castle" is.

Industry Reviews

Sean/Colter keeps re-living the last eight minutes of his life, though every time there's a rewind, things change, and he's able to influence events. His controllers, VERA FARMIGA and JEFFREY WRIGHT, want him to identify the bomber and prevent a threatened attack on Chicago itself.

SOURCE CODE is the second feature directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, after the excellent MOON a couple of years ago, and it confirms him as an astute and talented director of mysterious science fiction. As the bewildered yet determined hero, Jake Gyllenhaal makes us believe the far-fetched tale, and the supporting actors are all good.

Like INCEPTION, this is intelligent science fiction, and it doesn't overstay its welcome, running a tight 90 minutes - and if you're one of those few who stay for the end credit crawl you'll spot a lovely one: Editorial Esprit de Corps (whatever that is) is credited to Eleanor Rigby.